Approachable Leadership Blog
5 Performance Issues that Signal Your Teammate is About to Quit
Jason’s one of those guys you can count on. Not flashy or a top performer. But reliable and consistent. He does his job and contributes to the stability of the ship. Recently though, you’ve noticed Jason’s performance is slipping. It’s not so bad that you’re going to write him up or anything. But you’re starting to have to double check his work because mistakes are being made. What’s more, you now have to remind him to do things he would normally do automatically. It’s starting to annoy you.
Phil Wilson Quoted By The Economist
“Leaders who rely on power get burned, and yet, many of them rely on position or formal authority to get things done.” Phil Wilson was responding to questions about bad habits executives can fall prey to. Terri Williams, writing for the Executive Education Navigator,...
![Retention: How to Tell if Your Employee is About to Jump Ship [Part 1]](https://approachableleadership.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/craig-whitehead-252549-small-133x100.jpg)
Retention: How to Tell if Your Employee is About to Jump Ship [Part 1]
Retention. Retention. Retention. It is your last interview for a big HR job. Your future boss and 2 other leaders finish their questions.You feel pretty good. Then your future boss finishes the interview with this question: “What questions do you have for...
3 Tips for Creating Trust in Organizational Leaders
People who trust their immediate managers are much more likely to trust organizational leaders. This, from a 2017 study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology. Ashley Fulmer, one of the authors of the study lays out a brief synopsis of her “trickle up” leadership theory in this HRB article. The basic idea is that the key to creating trust in an organization is to focus on one-on-one relationship-building between leaders and those they lead.
Phil Quoted in Fast Company Article on Employee Motivation
Fast Company’s recent article “The Link Between Employee Motivation and Their Manager’s Mental State” dives into a new study from the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes that looked how a leader’s mindset affects his or her team’s performance…
5 Books on Doing Great Work
A few months ago, Michael Bungay Stainer asked me to list my Five Essential Books for Being a More Approachable Leader. It inspired me to list some books I’ve been reading this year. Here are 5 books on doing more great work.
5 Turnover Excuses That Signal Your Managers Are The Problem
Have you ever quit your boss? You wouldn’t be weird if you did. In fact, you’d be right in the middle of the bell curve. Because in a recent Gallup study of 7,272 U.S. adults a whopping 50 percent of employees said they left a job “to get away from their manager to improve their overall life at some point in their career.” I want to point out one phrase again: “to improve their overall life.”
5 Clever Ways to Get Turnover Under Control
Anyone looking to stop the “corporate death spiral” and get turnover under control? Here are 5 tips to turnaround your turnover issues.
Turnover Costs: 8 Hidden Costs of Employee Turnover You May Have Missed
Turnover costs a lot. But have you really considered how expensive? Voluntary turnover is projected to be 20% this year. And it will directly cost employers over $11 billion. Here’s 8 hidden costs you may have not considered.
5 Research-Backed Ways to Improve Employee Engagement
Here’s 5 Research-Backed Steps to Increase OCBs for Your Team. One: Focus On Progress, Not Engagement. Have you ever struggled with meditation? You sit and tell your brain to be calm, but instead your “monkey-mind” goes into overdrive thinking about… well, everything but being calm.
The Only True Measure of Employee Engagement
Sometimes the most unhappy employees are the most engaged. Don’t believe me? I’ve got a quick story that might change your mind. I know this may come as a surprise to many of you, but I haven’t always been the picture of health and wellness that I am today.
How to Upgrade Your Self-Control as a Leader: 3 Research-Backed Steps
How well do you exercise self-control? It’s a challenge for most leaders. This article provides 3 research-backed tips for increasing your self-control as a leader.
Here is How Leaders Can Overcome Bias: 3 Proven Tactics from Research
Everybody experiences bias. Here are 3 proven tactics from research to overcome implicit and cognitive bias that faces leaders every day.
3 Questions Your Employees Don’t Ask (But Desperately Want Answered)
We all know how it feels to want acceptance. Your employees want acceptance too. Here are 3 questions they don’t ask, but desperately want answered.
Calm Under Pressure: Leadership Lessons from a Bomb Disposal Expert
When do people need leadership the most? When they don’t know what to do. This article is about keeping calm under pressure.
Steve Harvey and When Your Open Door Policy Backfires
What’s in an open door policy? By now I’m sure you’ve all heard about the leadership controversy surrounding Steve Harvey. Let’s dive in.
Cultivate Power: 6 Tips for Giving Control Back to Your Team
Leaders all struggle with this exact same power dynamic. The only way for us to truly accomplish our goals is if our teams feel powerful too.
Leader Warmth: Warmth Eats Competence For Breakfast
“Warmth eats competence for breakfast.” A Zenger Folkman study looked at over 50,000 managers. It found that “a leader’s overall effectiveness is predicted more by warmth than competence.”
